The news comes from today's Pokémon Direct; while discussing the huge-looking Expansion Pass that has been announced for Sword and Shield, Game Freak's Shigeru Ohmori said that "200+ well-known Pokémon" are set to return.

We don't have a full list of the special, chosen 200, but this section of the Direct has been expanded upon in an official press release. We thought we'd share that with you below:

MORE PAST POKÉMON AVAILABLE TO OBTAIN IN POKÉMON SWORD AND POKÉMON SHIELD

Many Pokémon that didn’t originally appear in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield make their homes on the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra. Trainers will meet a lively array of diverse Pokémon, from newly discovered Legendary Pokémon and new regional forms to familiar Pokémon that have been seen living in other regions.

Free updates are also planned for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield to coincide with the release of these expansions. Updates are scheduled for the same days that The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra expansions are released. Each of these updates will enable players who haven’t purchased an Expansion Pass to receive Pokémon that will be added via The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra expansions through means such as trading.

If you don't want to fork out for the new Expansion Pass, you can still get the new (but old) 'mon in your copy of Sword and Shield. As noted in the statement above, a free update for all players will allow you to trade with players who do own the new content, and you'll also be able to bring over qualifying past Pokémon using the upcoming Pokémon Home service.

Are you happy with the decision to bring back some more of the National Dex? Are you annoyed that they weren't in it from the start, or will you take what you can get? Let's chat all things Pokémon in the comments.

Ryan can list the first 151 Pokémon all in order off by heart – a feat he calls his ‘party trick’ despite being such an introvert that he’d never be found anywhere near a party. He’d much rather just have a night in with Mario Kart and a pizza, and we can’t say we blame him.

Almost surprised to see them renege on the past year of (appalling) marketing, actually bite the bullet and address some players' complaints regarding the lack of National Pokedex Pokemon. Bit of a band-aid at $30, though, can't fix every issue in Sword and Shield by gating the post-game content behind paid DLC, unfortunately. It is good that players who don't purchase the DLC are able to obtain the Pokemon via trading, however. Small fry like these should have been in the base game.

And it looks like a fair portion of it is legendaries, which I don't much care for. It makes more sense to not have all legendaries in one game than the rest of the Pokemon, as legendaries are supposed to be a one time thing (of course that wall has been broken many times before, but my point here is that having all of the legendaries is a bit jarring compared to the cut that the rest of the Pokemon took).

@Majora101 The article says the free update allows anyone to have access to these Pokémon. Sure you can’t get catch them without the expansion pass, but you’ve never been able to catch every single Pokémon without trading / paying money for additional game(s) anyways
Edit: Thanks for the comment update 😉

I still shan't pick up SwSh until they announce the return of the remaining 300ish Pokémon. But I will grant them, this is a vast step in the right direction. I had completely written off Pokémon, and while this isn't enough to get me to bite I am certainly filled with hope ^_^

In what will no doubt be the most popular comment in the section, I liked Dexit. There are too many of the bloody things wandering around now. I’m by no means a big Gen. One fanboy (3’s my favourite, 7 second), but having almost a thousand monsters makes any attempt at balancing battling impossible, power creep inevitable and finishing a Pokédex ridiculous unless you bought the previous games on a console you may not own. 400 was a reasonable number, in the knowledge that future games would see the return of some of the other oldies.

There were other problems with Sword and Shield, but I don’t suppose updates will patch in voice acting and decent dungeon design, will they? No, instead we’ll get everyone’s favourite Pokémon Nidorino back. Hooraaaaaay.

(Please note my favourite monster, how it didn’t make it into Sword/Shield, and how I don’t care.)

@PBandSmelly except the Pokemon in those 200 are mostly not in the game files, and the first batch of content isn't ready till June, so, they don't just magically appear. They showed Pokemon from all generations. Barring the first 151 Pokemon, the rest do not have HD textures so they will all need remade too.

@Brutchie-bearIt has literally been proven that they do nothing but copy paste the models and animations from the 3ds games, it is super easy. Nothing changes. And now that they added so many pokemon in such little time, it proves that adding pokemon diesnt take much time at all

Already addressed. I for one was able to complete the X/Y Pokedex without purchasing an additional game; one could essentially "catch 'em all" via trading, given the Pokemon are actually supported within the game. I don't recall spending $90 for that game, however.

@PBandSmelly that still makes no sense. Such little time? Many of them won’t be out until the second expansion late this year. Nothing has been proven and the people who prove it still don’t have any real idea of the actual work it entails

This is a terrible deal all around. The Pokemon porting most likely wouldn't have happened if there wasn't any paid DLC. They're only done this to justify the paid DLC that should've already been in the game

So basically now, pay for your post game content instead of it being included! Keep in mind that this release, that basically look like a souped up 3DS game, is more expensive than the previous release...

So, it released looking like a 3DS game, with less content and now you gotta buy the post game? Yikes

@Brutchie-bear well, considering they made the announcement two months after the game launched, it's safe to say it was always the plan. Specifically, the plan was to monetize the whole situation. Some real EA stuff. Such a shame.

I don't know if I'm dumb or what, but I'm in the camp of those who think this is quite a cool news. More aventures and Pokémons, at a price that seems not outrageous to me.Sorry to not get angry but this Direct made me quite happy.

Clearly it therefore isn’t too hard to add the monsters in. I know people can receive these via trading too, but having to pay £30 for these monsters that should have been there already to be added to the game is really poor form.

If you needed the expansion pass to have access to these Pokémon at all, it would be shady as hell. But from what I've gathered, you can trade these Pokémon with people who have the pass without you having it yourself, and I assume, you can transfer them from older games with Home. So, that's fine, I think. Still wish all the missing Pokémon were back, but hey, I won't complain about they adding more.

As for the rest... I mean, it would be better to have a decent post-game at launch, but I'd rather have a good paid post game than to not have one at all, like XY. I'm gonna wait to see if the content is worth the price, though.

It is amazing that the Pokémon company did not want to tell people this right before launch, it would have really ironed out most of the national dex outrage. Even just vaguely saying that more will be added later would have been enough.

i agree gamefreak did drop the ball on some things on sword and shield but not having the national pokedex in this was kind of a nice change of pace since not everyone can catch all 400+ in sort amount of time but nice seeing them adding more in though.

@PBandSmelly Actually, it has been proven by people who actually know what they are talking about that models (Not all admittedly) have been updated at mesh level and I'm sorry to tell you those mobile games are using the 3DS textures which are better than the 3DS can display but are not HD. Check out the texture for Charmander from SwSh and compare it to the texture from the 3DS games. Source: Models Resource which has the models ripped from the games and their textures. Also, you can see it here: https://ibb.co/mc3C6WN

@fadedcolors What do you think Pokemon Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, Black/White 2, Ultra Sun/Moon were? Also, you don't have to buy the DLC, the Pokemon can be brought over on Pokemon Home, and you can get them though trades for free.

It's $30 for each meaning if you own both Sword & Shield you need to pay $30 for each as each expansion pass will only work with it's corresponding game.It says so in the eShop under "Add-on Content" for each game. If you only own 1 game it's $30 for all the DLC.

Some people are confusing this with $30 each for spring and autumn updates. Nintendo has never been very good at explaining things clearly, and releasing 2 expansion passes - 1 for each game - and each pass has 2 parts has caused confusion.

Okay, so they're bringing back half of the cut Pokémon, give or take. Maybe they'll add more later down the line, but having even half of those cut Pokémon back makes it a bit better. Still not sure how I feel about the expansion passes being $30; BW2/USUM were $40, but were full games, but I have no clue if the Island of Armor and Crown Tundra will offer just as much content.

@Curly_Brace "you will be able to trade for them. So you can catch them all"

Honest question - do Pokemon gamers consider "trading" and "catching" to be the same thing? If you have to "trade' for a character b/c you can't "catch" it in your own game b/c you didn't pay for the DLC do people really consider that trade to be "catching" that Pokemon? To me that seems like too very different things. Either you can "catch" a Pokemon in your game, or you "trade" for it with someone else. If you can't "catch" a Pokemon in your game b/c you didn't pay for the DLC I really wouldn't consider trading for it "catching" it. But that's just me.

My sons have played all the Pokemon games, I'm just here so I can keep up with them.

@Curly_Brace Right, which does nothing to curve the argument that this is content that should have been there from the beginning. Never mind the other post-game content that will be made available in the DLC that should have also been available in the base game, which cannot even be generously described as having any post-game at all.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SugarWiki/AndTheFandomRejoiced
...Or maybe not everybody when they remembered this wouldn't be free.
But if they're updated to the game alongside the DLC, then you could just transfer them from Pokémon Home, if you had caught these Pokémon on previous games of course.
And if you want them for no fee, then you can try your conviction skill (or luck) at Link Trades when they arrive.

It's a FREE update, people! You don't need the expansion. You can add 200 Pokémon to the game that you have in your Pokémon Home or you can trade them with other people right off the bat. Almost just as all the other games used to work, only now with a slight delay.

@rjejr If you want to walk about in the tall grass, find a Pokemon and throw a quick ball at them to get your kicks then I guess this trading doesn't count. But I'm sure most people just want to have them on their team and/or fill out their dex rather than experience the actual act of catching. Plus trading them in still gives you the fun of then training and evolving them or breeding their lower forms.

Or if we're talking purely on a grammatical level, trading is not the same as catching. But I think in terms of the result of acquiring a Pokémon in-game, for most it's exactly the same. Hence why things like Surprise Trade are popular.

@kuromantic It's not just about the Pokémon, it's also the fact that Sword/Shield were real short compared to other Pokémon games and now you're essentially getting to pay extra to get a more 'proper' length Pokémon journey. Plus you also still just gotta find a way to trade all those Pokémon in if you don't get the pass; not everyone has Nintendo Switch Online, not everyone has Pokémon to import from older games, and not everyone has methods to trade Pokémon from others.

@AlexSora89 I know. I just don't always feel like typing that out each time I want to post a link. It would help immensely if NintendoLife would implement a hypelink button like, I dunno, most other websites do.

@Old_Man_Nintendo Of course. That's not how collectors or completionists work though. And guess what I am.

Even the previous Pokémon games had this mechanic that you can't get all Pokémon with just one game, you need to transfer them from the previous games to complete your collection, all Pokémon are included in the data, but having multiple games is the only way to get all of them, the GBA games were the opposite, since trading between previous games was never available, players had to wait for the release of more games.

The problem with Sword/Shield is that half of the Pokémon weren't even in the games' files, meaning old Pokémon weren't available even with transfer, I'm not going to praise Nintendo and Game Freak for that, they did their obligation, but having to make the transfer is a tradition of the series.

I honestly like how they’ve done this. Sure, they still have not restored the entire Pokédex, but in theory, if you’ve kept up with the franchise until now, you don’t need to buy expansion pass at all. You can download the free update and transfer your old Pokémon forward with Home and trade for the rest. (People complaining that you can’t personally catch them all without the expansion seem to forget that there has never been a single generation of Pokémon since the original Red and Blue were you could catch everything within a single pair of games.)
And for those who want to adventure more, there’s more content to be purchased, but it’s entirely optional. My only issue is that I think the expansion should be universal across both versions once you purchase it. Seems pretty cheap to have to buy the same expansion twice for both Sword and Shield.

@Bobobiwan I really liked the direct as well. I think it's great how they're rolling everything out in stages which mirrors sprints in IT, instead of waiting a year & getting a big drop at once. Will definitely keep me coming back to the game throughout the year 😁

@Ogbert "then training and evolving them or breeding their lower forms"

Thanks, that helps, and makes sense. So really the Pokemon mantra should be "Gotta catch'em all, and the ones I can't catch I'll trade for".

So semantics on my part, I can live with that. I always knew certain Pokemon were exclusive to each version of the game, otherwise why have 2 versions of each game? So I knew people had to trade to fill their Pokedex. But I guess in my head there's a difference between catching 100 Pokemon and trading for the few you need in the other version, and catching 100 Pokemon in game then trading for the 200 that are in the expansion pass you didn't pay for. If you are playing a Pokemon game and trying to trade for 200 Pokemon are you even playing a game at that point or just trading? Which I suppose is what keeps people playing Pokemon games long after they finished the main story. So not for me.

I don’t take it as a reversal. Feels more like confirmation of the animation issues they cited. Aside from making the new variants designs they had to model and animate the old mon that are returning. A slow rollout of popular ‘mon makes way more sense then throwing them out out at one time.

Being halfway through Pokemon Sword I can honestly say it's not a very good game. Adding expansion content isn't going to make it any better. Gamefreak knows that since a large portion of the fandom buys whatever it puts out that quality doesn't really matter anymore. You can see the fanaticism in the comments here.

@IdleYoshi This is precisely correct. Working in game development for several years myself, I can say with near certainty that the team knew this was coming all along, and the DLC was planned from the start. This was not, like, "fans are upset, let's add them back." It probably explains why their answers in regards to this issue were met with some confusion in the past, because they weren't ready to reveal their DLC plans yet.

@LUIGITORNADO it’s fine if people say that they would like more. My criticism is always targeted at people that aggressively demand more, want to let the world know that they’re all-knowing concerning their complaints and the apparant solutions and are not reading correctly and are therefore complaining uninformed.

The thing is, especially on the internet, people tend to forget a company consists of people and people have feelings. Constructive criticism I always like to read and see, it helps with improving the topic discussed. Criticism with empty reasoning targeted at a company or developers directly that might harm the feelings of one unfairly I’d always hate to see.

Did you see the many comments of people here that think you have to pay for the 200 pokemon that get added for free?
Did you see the responses on IGN’s Pokemon S&S review targeted at the reviewer directly?

The internet is a mean place to be on. It’s hip to hate. And I don’t like to stand by and watch

In all honesty the plan here by the Pokemon Company is bloody brilliant. Personally I feel this is how DLC should go for most games. Any extra content is just that, extra. You don't need any of it to finish the full game (see Asura's Wrath) and it keeps you invested in the game after you bought it and beaten it. And with there being nearly 1000 pokemon, having some be missing to make you want them more, is marketing genius. Probably totally by accident but, I digress. This was good all round. And for people complaining about the price, each expansion area which functions just like the Wild Area, has new story elements, and brings more pokemon with them, is $15. That's more than acceptable for just new maps in a game (see Call of Duty.) All in all I love what they did here and just like they pointed out in the direct, rather than make a "new" third entry for the game they just put out some DLC. Way less of a hassle for everyone.

@Majora101@rjejr
I never disagreed with any of that. Initially, majora was implying that unless you paid extra money there was no way to get these 200+ Pokémon. Majora also made it clear that trading for ‘mons back in the days of X/Y was acceptable. That was my only grievance

@lordzand Agreed. But I dont really think any of the games were good (?) per say but were good for pokemon standards and I think those standards saves money. You can easily compare other rpgs and they just always add more to what a rpg is than the Pokemon series (Paper Mario, M&L, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, etc). Pokemon is literally just marketing cute video game monsters, thats it, and thats honestly the only things that interest people. Not having a strong story, no unique and out there mechanics, and neither world building. Game Freak knows their market and thats why the dlc is all about adding pokemon they intentionally left out to gain profit and not dlc that helps boost the quality of the game.
Sorry if I sound ranty btw

For me it's good to see more added to the dex, however there are a few problems, one is that I'll need more info, being on what's being added to the dex. Another is Capcom - I'm still waiting for an announcement for MHW or equivalent for the switch, if they announce that, this game is a complete pass for me.

“We just found that Sword and Shield would probably be a good point to go back and reevaluate what would be the best selection of Pokemon that appeal to the widest audience while keeping into consideration the balance of the battle system.”

@Majora101: Same here. Online play is free on 3DS too. And the Dex contained 450 Pokémon out-of-the-box (with over 700 in total obtainable via trading/transfer). It's pathetic that even with home console pricing, NSO/Home/Bank subscription fees, and now grossly overpriced DLC, it still doesn't equate to the content contained within the FIRST Pokémon games on 3DS. Sadly, the acquiescent Mareep are ruining the franchise for the rest of us.

The only way that Game Freak can redeem themselves in my eyes is if they release a complete edition with all of the content on cartridge by the end of the year (and I do not begrudge those that would prefer a cheaper downloadable alternative instead). If not, I will probably quit the franchise as they have soiled 20+ years of goodwill and brand loyalty. I don't buy both games (plus any updates/sequels, and sometimes additional copies for siblings) to pay for DLC in addition to that. They can get stuffed.

It doesn’t matter how many Pokemon are in these games, the core gameplay is so slow and played-out that it’s a chore to play! Wish I still liked these kinds of grindy, traditional RPGs, but I don’t think it’s wrong to ask them to try something new.

The next Pokemon game should be a spin-off with a more limited, focused roster and experimental gameplay. That won’t happen, but I can dream...

Gotta love that they still kept a couple hundred in the back so they have leverage when they want to launch the second wave of paid dlc for an unfinished game.

I'm glad they're trying to keep the game alive, but this is giving me No Man's Sky flashbacks. The difference is that NMS updates were all free, because they understood that the goodwill would be tainted if they charged for it. The goodwill among the fanbase of updating this content cleanly with the entire dex would have outweighed two waves of paid DLC long-term.

@rjejr Yeah it depends, a lot of people won't try to complete the 'dex, that's always been a sidequest/endgame anyway. I'm only trying with this entry because reducing it down to 400 actually made it feel achievable for the first time in years! I think a lot of people will more specifically want certain ones that come in the DLC rather than all 200. So they can just trade in their favourites and be happy.

@kalosnMy current NL profile pic was actually drawn for Tv Tropes use. Then my account got screwed up - I did a lot to clean up the Nightmare Fuel pages during FastEddie's purge, but alas - and I'm using the pic here as some kind of memorial.I've drawn it like crap however, and sooner or later I'll end up conjuring up a new one.

Hadn't thought of it from that perspective. If you only want 1 or 2 out of the 200 then you really can save yourself $30 and just trade for those couple you want. So there actually is an upside. As long as you don't want to catch those couple yourself, b/c then you're paying $30 just to catch'em. But if you don't, then you can, that much is true, and it is an actual upside.

My biggest problem with all of this is more the confusion brought about by throwing all of this info at everyone in a 20 minute video but not explaining any of the details very well. It's their game, they can do what they want, people can buy it or not. It's people defending things that aren't even true that bothers me. That wasn't you, that was some people in the article w/ 300 comments, I think things were calmer in this thread.

@YosherTo be fair, even in USUM you were not able to "catch" every single Pokemon in game.The data was there to transfer or trade them over.Which means, at the very least, you had to pay for PokeBank and previous games, but I understand your point.

@Curly_Brace you've absolutely moved the goalpost by ignoring the overwhelming amount of Pokemon not included from the National Dex.Yor trying to pick at one thing as if it matters that access is now granted for those 200 pokemon .They said "We don't do DLC or patches"Also "We won't delay they game or hire more people instead of 200 to work on biggest franchise games" #Gamefreak is a lie

@Balladeer if they were yor favorite monsters you would care.So you just exposed that you have nothing to lose and aren't one of us who've dumped 1,000 dollars into them over the past decades only to see them betray the precendent* theuyve set

@Balladeer Balance is not an excuse to cut Pokemon. The problem of balance can be solved by simply banning certain Pokemon from competitive tournaments. That way, competitive players can have their balanced competitions while casual players who just like to collect their favorite Pokemon can still have what they want. Other series have done similar things for balance.

@Brutchie-bear Because they can add them into the game without any trouble. The switch can easily handle all of the Pokemon. Consider how vast the open world of Breath of the Wild is. It is actually larger than some real world countries. If it can handle a realistic world of that size, it can easily handle a bunch of characters that have a much more simplistic, cartoonish art style.

If they’re forcing us to pay the price of a full game for the expansion passes for both Sword and Shield, then they better be planning on adding all of them back eventually. It doesn’t matter if it’s not right away. I’m fine with them gradually adding them back a little at a time, just as long as they do add them back. If not, then Masuda needs to be fired and Game Freak needs to be put under new management. Sword and Shield felt like a rushed game, and was overall disappointing for me. If that’s going to be the way it is going forward, then I’ll find something else to spend my money on. In any case, I think this expansion pass with its returning Pokemon is a step in the right direction.